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Reflection (1999) 

Remembering the Holocaust 

KYIV DESTINATION: Holocaust Memorial Babi Yar
On 29th September 1941 the occupying Nazi forces posted an announcement requesting all Jews to gather in the lower city. People disobeying the order would be shot.
People were marched from the lower city to the hills and ravines of Babi Yar and shot. Over a two days around 33,000 Jews were killed. This figure grew to at least 100,000 as more Jews, psychiatric patients, Roma, gays, Communists and nationalists were added to the list. This was the worst single atrocity of WWII in Ukraine by that date. The full story can be found here:http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/learning_environments/babi_yar/historical_background3.asp#!prettyPhoto
To get there go to Dorohozhychi metro station. The memorial park is to you left. Go under the street underpass and enter the park. To the right at the metro exit is a bigger park, which is part of the Babi Yar complex. Despite the chilling story the experience is somewhat soulless. The grassed ravines tell a more telling story. One reason for this is that the area was somewhat neglected after the war. There were even plans to build apartments on the site. In the early sixties Soviet beatnik poet Yevtuschenko wrote a poem abut Babi Yar that called on the authorities to mark the spot. The hasty result is a hyperbolic over-reaction in monumental form that is a bit predictable. More recent memorials have since been added. The place is usually deserted.  For a site of global historical significance something seems wrong. A more poignant memorial is the statue of the little boy reading the sign to gather in the lower town. 
In the distance is the TV tower of Eurovision host channel NTU. The TV tower is the tallest of its kind in the world.
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